Monday, September 29, 2014

The Latest Military Fiasco In Iraq The Fall of Camp Saqlawiya, Anbar

During the summer the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) faced one
collapse after another. First the country’s second largest city Mosul fell,
then western Kirkuk province, and northern Salahaddin including Tikrit. The
militants were then stopped, and the Islamic State (IS) turned north and east
towards the Kurds and Yazidis. Eventually, it seemed like a rough stalemate had
settled across the nation’s fighting. That changed in the middle of September
when the IS was able to overrun a small army base north of Fallujah called Camp
Saqlawiya. This showed that the insurgents still hold the operational
initiative, and can mass forces in parts of the country despite the increasing
western air presence.

Camp Saqlawiya was
located just to the north of Fallujah in Anbar (En verite)

In the middle of September 2014 the insurgents were able to seize
some small towns to the north of Fallujah, which led to the ISF sending in a
force to retake them. One of those towns was Siger,
which is just outside of Saqlawiya. In
response 400 soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, a SWAT unit, and
elements of the League of the Righteous militias were sent to liberate the
villages. The 3rd Brigade contingent ended up at Camp Saqlawiya. The
Islamic State claimed this was all a
trap they set to draw in government forces and destroy them. This became a
reality in Saqlawiya.

The militants quickly surrounded the camp and took the
neighboring territory to stop any relief columns that might be sent. The first
day the Islamic State attacked using captured ISF Humvees and used
loudspeakers to call on the soldiers to surrender. They were eventually able to
take
the main road to the base cutting off its supplies. A
tank unit from Ramadi did get within 500 yards of the base, but couldn’t
break through the insurgent lines. When the entrapped soldiers saw the column
they tried to fight their way to it, but were turned back by IS fire. That
would end up sealing the fate of the camp. The cordon around the camp was never
broken.

Anbar Operations
Command head Gen. Fliah called the soldiers at Camp Saqlawiya complainers
showing his lack of care for his troops (Iraqi
News)

As the siege lasted for five days the troops began running low
on ammunition and supplies. They called their commanders, family members,
lawmakers, and a humanitarian group all pleading for help. Officers said that
relief was coming, but none did as the in coming roads were full of improvised
explosive devices. Worse yet, the head of the Anbar Operations Command told
the Washington Post that the soldiers were being whiners just because they
were under attack, and claimed that supplies got into Saqlawiya, but survivors
denied that. The general’s comments point to how the ISF leadership did not
take the situation at Camp Saqlawiya seriously or worse yet did not care. It
was this type of callousness that led to the fall of much of northern Iraq
during the summer. Just like in this case, local officers in Ninewa and
Salahaddin called their commanders for orders about what to do and for help in
the face of the advancing insurgent forces and received no serious replies. Instead
their leaders abandoned them.

The fifth day of the siege was the last as the militants
were finally able to break the soldier’s defenses. On September 21, the troops
were given orders
to withdraw to Mazram army base in northern Fallujah. The ISF also claimed
that it took
Siger and broke the siege on the camp, but that proved untrue. That night
the IS attacked using two suicide bombers in captured Humvees, followed by three
suicide bombers with explosive vests. The base believed that this was the
relief column that was promised and welcomed the incoming vehicles, only to
find out they were insurgents dressed in army uniforms. The explosions opened
up the camp, and an assault team entered using mortars, RPGs, and heavy machine
guns. Some soldiers claimed the mortar shells were full of chlorine, but this
was only reported in one Al
Jazeera story. With IS fighters inside the perimeter the soldiers broke up
into small groups to try to escape. The Washington Post claimed that 400 got
out, but there was no way to confirm this as many soldiers were spread out,
captured or killed in the surrounding area. 40 soldiers were said to have died
in the night attack however. IS claimed they captured four M1A1 Abrams tanks, a
Russian tank, three BMP armored personnel carriers, and 41 Humvees, although
there was no way to prove that either. Shafaq News reported that 180
captured soldiers were taken to Fallujah, while politicians said that 300
soldiers in total died during the siege. Survivors interviewed by the
Washington Post put the losses at anywhere from 100 to 500 soldiers killed. This
was quite a feat for the militants as they had massed their forces for a week
outside a military base, turned back relief efforts, and successfully took
their target. They had not been able to take an ISF base since Camp Speicher
outside of Tikrit in June.

The fall of Camp Saqlawiya showed that the militants are
still on the offensive in parts of Iraq. Since January when fighting broke out
in Anbar the insurgents have continuously expanded their hold upon the
province, and it’s now said they control up to 85% of it. The
United States Air Force has started striking targets in the governorate, but it
has not seemed to stop the militants’ operations there. More importantly this
was another expose of the incompetence of the leadership of the Iraqi Security
Forces. The comments by the Anbar Operations Commander showed that they do not
care about their soldiers. Iraqi army planes and helicopters could have been
deployed to break the IS cordon or at least drop supplies. Instead, false stories
were spread that the camp had been relieved, while it was allowed to fall. Even
to this day survivors of the base claim that they are being mistreated.
Prime Minister Haider Abadi has promised to reform the security forces, but
that will take years. Until then he will have to deal with the legacy of his
predecessor Premier Nouri al-Maliki who politicized and coup proofed the ISF by
appointing loyalist officers rather than competent ones. There is also
widespread corruption within the force that undermines its professionalism. That
all means more Camp Speicher’s and Saqlawiya’s can happen until the army and
police are thoroughly rebuilt.

SOURCES

Kirkpatrick, David, “Despite Airstrikes, ISIS Appears to
Hold Its Ground in Iraq,” New York Times, 9/22/14

Al Mada, “Survivors of Saqlawiyah forced to return to the
fighting without weapons and soldiers upheld as “a death sentence for treason,”
9/28/14

3 comments:

1st most of the top leadership were put into place by Maliki for their loyalty to him not their competence.

2nd most of the officers are corrupt. You can buy commissions and officers routinely take the pay or portions of the pay of their soldiers, register ghost soldiers, etc. to make money.

3rd the Iraqi tradition within the ISF and government is that everything no matter how unimportant has to go all the way to the top before any action can be taken. That means that even if there were good officers they have to go through a huge number of steps and red tape to get anything done, which kills initiative.

The ISF will take years to rebuild and there's no guarantee it will be successful given those last two institutional barriers.

IRAQ HISTORY TIMELINE

TWITTER

About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com